“[The] mystery critter looks more like a mink than an otter to me (longer fingers, without any evidence of webbing). It clearly was dead in the water for a prolonged period, hence the defurred face and head, and somewhat swollen appearance”, wrote Patton.

“If anyone had bothered to look at the teeth, the identification would have been easy, but…”, he remarked, emphasizing that this likely ID was made only through the photos published on the Internet, without the necessary evidence for a more definite conclusion.

So, it looks like an otter, and was probably a mink. Either way, no monster, both creatures are quite cute, that we can all agree on. [with many thanks to Maria Guimarães and James Patton!]

“The most visible teeth in the upper jaw looks like a canine and also its position is too backward to be an incisor. So we can discard rodents like the muskrat that someone (e.g. cryptozoologist Loren Coleman) suggested as a possible solution (rodents don’t have canine teeth). Looking at teeth and shape of boy and paws, it seems clear it’s a mustelid. So your first hypothesis as an otter was a good guess, but also my opinion is that it’s an American mink (Neovison vison).”

Castiglioni also remarks how:

“(Hoping I won’t annoy you) the otter whose photo you used in your blog is an European otter (Lutra lutra) that is found in Europe and Asia, not in Canada. The otter of Canada belongs to another species and genus, Lontra canadensis.”

No annoyance at all! To correct the error, here is not an otter, either European or from Canada, but an American Mink:

[…] you take that observation and combine it with the findings of Dr. James Patton quoted over at Forgetomori.com: “[The] mystery critter looks more like a mink than an otter to me (longer fingers, without any […]

[…] forgetomori » New Montauk Monster? This time it’s an otterYep, it’s a mink, got the same animal in my backyard in Ontario. Otters are bigger, has more luxurious fur and the head is more triangular. The apparent dent in the top of its head might be from a trap that it got free from before dying. […]